Red China: A Very Backward Country

A trained economist had a month-long look
at Red China (TIME cover, Sept. 13) and emerged last week with some
pertinent conclusions. The man was Raymond Scheyven, 52, Belgium's
former Economic Affairs Minister and currently a member of the Belgian
Parliament. Scheyven visited Canton, Peking and Shanghai, and a number
of industrial centers in northeastern and central China. He was told
that cloth rationing would continue for at least five years.
Scheyven added that optimists gave China 20 years to catch up with the
industrial nations of the West, and pessimists 40 to 50 years. Said
Scheyven, "I give...